Video conferencing is generally known in which two or more locations communicate with each other by simultaneous two-way video and audio transmission. For example, GoToMeeting, WebEx and Skype are popular commercial services where group video conferences can be conducted online for anyone with an Internet connection. However, these video conferencing services do not permit live public viewing of the video conferences—only invitees may participate. Skype is sometimes used in conjunction with public television broadcasts, but it is used as a video source only and thus does not allow television viewers to join on air. GoToMeeting, WebEx and Skype also require additional client software as opposed to working entirely within a web or mobile browser. Generally, such video conferencing services also limit the number of participants to hundreds or low thousands of viewers.
Other video conferencing services, like Google Hangouts and Tinychat, do allow public viewing, but lack a robust set of production tools for controlling the creation and production of the live video session and/or lack the ability for viewers to interact. Google Hangouts, for example, allows a large audience of off-camera viewers but they are not able to join the video conversation on camera, participate in text chat, or share media such as photos, recorded videos or slide decks.
It would thus be desirable if a video conferencing service allowed for tens of thousands of viewers to participate in a public group-based video conversation and provided a full set of production controls that enabled any user of the service to create and produce a group-based video conversation consisting of multiple video and audio streams that may be selected to be on camera by a producer.